First flight to Cuenca reenacted today; Covid cases increase but ICU use holds steady; Free internet on tranvía route; Mingas fix rural roads; Holiday events

Martes, 3/11/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

Horarios especiales en museos (Special hours at museums) – Starting today, the Sistema Municipal de Museos has special hours for the fiestas de Cuenca from 9:00 to 17:00. Enjoy special exhibits and activities with local artists and craftspeople at the Museo de Arte Moderno, la Casa Museo Remigio Crespo Toral, Economuseo Casa del Sombrero, el Museo Catedral Vieja, la Galería de la Alcaldía y el Planetario Municipal. There is a show and sale of crafts and sombreros de paja toquilla (“Panama” hats) made by local artisans at the Museo Catedral Vieja. The Planetarium has an exhibit of telescopes and astronomical projections from martes a domingo a las 11-15:00. Make your reservation at 4097-246.

Mañana reeditarán vuelo de Liut (Liut’s flight to be repeated miércoles, el 4/11) – It’s been 100 years since the first air plane landed in Cuenca as part of the first Centennial celebrations. Elia Liut crossed the Andes from Guayaquil to Cuenca in a Hanriot HD1 biplane. As part of the Bicentennial, the association of professional pilots, Pilot G and the Corporación Cuitural DIZA decided to reenact Luit’s flight. Captain Bryan Miranda will make the same trip accompanied by 3 other pilots in ultralights. The plan calls for the planes to fly over Cuenca at 11:00 miércoles and land at the airport with a commemorative event following. <Liut landed in Jericó field in the El Salado sector of Narancay. But it’s a little too built up now to reenact the original landing.>

Otras cosas –

Titular – Cuenca, Bicentenaria (Cuenca, Bicentennial) – Today’s paper is a special 4 section issue featuring the Bicentennial in Section C, and very old Cuencanos from different walks of life talking about what Cuenca was like in the old days in Section D.

Thousands of tourists visited Cuenca during the independence holidays. (El Mercurio)

Se incrementan aglomeraciones (Crowds increase) – ECU-911 reported increases in the number of unauthroized crowds over the weekend with reports of more than 240 which exceeded the 138 reports during the holidays in agosto. This worries the Coordinación Zonal 6 de Salud (Zone 6 Health Coordination) because this is the type of attitude that leads to an increase in cases of Covid. The number of reports of crowds on los sábados increased from 189 el sábado 17/11 to 242 el 24/11 to 249 el 31/11. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Cuenca has had 8,400 cases with an average increase of 400 per week for the last 3 weeks. People are going to the shopping malls and the Centro Histórico. In spite of this, the calls to 911 to report suspected cases of Covid have remained low. There were 54 reports in one day during the holiday in agosto and only 12 during this holiday. Occupancy of ICU beds in the public hospitals has been between 85-95%.

Concluye la toma de muestras para el estudio de contagio (Sample collections for Covid contagion study ends) – The MSP took 2,000 samples over the weekend, and they are being processed at the Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso. The MSP hopes to have the results este viernes so that the data can be analyzed, and a map drawn of where the virus is circulating in Cuenca so that medical attention in the city can be focussed.

Parroquias y zonas rurales mejoran vías con mingas (Parishes and rural areas improve roads with mingas) – <This is your sliver of life article since you haven’t had one in a while.> The city coordinated a program of communal mingas in Yanuncay, San Joaquín, Sidcay and Turi parishes this weekend. Residents improved roads, cleaned ditches, weeded, and fixed up green areas and multiuse areas in the rural communities. The city Public Works Department provided machinery and maintenance for the dirt roads. There have been 107 mingas held in Cuenca in the last year.

Internet gratuito (Free internet) – ETAPA is providing free internet service along the Tranvía route. Connect to the ‘Cuenca Unida’ network, sign up, and use it for free for one hour. <You could probably just sit at a station and use it without ever getting on a train, too.>

Fruta del Norte reinicia actividades (Fruta del Norte restarts activities) – The blockade of the road to the Fruta del Norte mining camp was ended yesterday after an agreement with the residents of the Los Encuentros parish and the Canadian mining company LundinGold. The main points of the agreement are the financing of the Los Encuentros bridge for $3,028,715, paving the vía Los Encuentros-Paquisha, and possibly a 10 meter boat with a 75 HP motor for river transport for the population in the area. The road had been blocked for 15 days and now 3,000 tons of gold concentrate and 130 kg. of doré (semi-pure gold and silver alloy – our word for the day) with a value of about $30 million can be transported to the port of Guayaquil. <About time the people living next door to a mine got some benefits since the mining trucks were probably tearing up the roads leaving the municipalities and province to repair them. Another case of taxpayers funding private profits. There’s a phrase for that in English that I can’t remember.>

Agenda –

viernes, 6 de noviembre:

10:00 – Recorrido virtual por el Centro Turistico Cultural Kushiwaira, de la parroquia Tarqui (Virtual tour of the Kushiwaira Cultural Tourist Center, in Tarqui parish) – Zoom ID212 169 8432, Contraseña (Password) 2sLsHU.
11:00 – Acto de entrega a la ciudad de las nuevas torres médica y hospialaria de la Corporación Médica Monte Sinai (Delivery to the city of the new medical and hospital towers of the Monte Sinai Medical Corporation) – Auditorio de la Torre IV del Hospital Monte Sinai.
14:00 – Charla virtual: Bicentenario de la Independencia de Cuenca (Virtual talk: Bicentennial of the Independence of Cuenca) – register at bib.sinincay97@hotmail.com.
15:00 – Conversatorio entorno a la obra: La Lengua Morlaca (Conversation around the work: The Morlaca Language) – by Dra. Mayra Vera – register at (07) 2 475125, guamanmi@hotmail.com.
17:00 – Conversatorio virtual: Cuenca, conservación patrimonial tras 200 años de libertad (Virtual conversation: Cuenca, heritage conservation after 200 years of freedom) – Zoom ID:9141220146, Contraseña: 1234.
19:00 – Reapertura de la Sala Blanca y Sala Real del Economuseo Municipal Casa del Sombrero (Reopening of the White Room and Royal Room of the Municipal Economuseum Casa del Sombrero) – Economuseo Municipal Casa del Sombrero – Aforo: Limitado (Limited capacity).
20:00 Al ritmo de los instrumentos: Festival de Solistas en honor al Bicentenario de nuestra ciudad de Cuenca (To the rhythm of the instruments: Festival of Soloists in honor of the Bicentennial of our city of Cuenca) – Facebook GAD Parroquial de Baños, Programa La Chirimia.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne